


Two Truths

by nerakrose



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Hooch/Sprout, Banter, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Yule Ball, hints at pre-romance Harry/Draco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 08:25:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12931395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerakrose/pseuds/nerakrose
Summary: Sirius is Remus' date to the Yule Ball.





	Two Truths

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spacerhapsody](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacerhapsody/gifts).



> AU in which Remus stayed on as teacher after PoA, and Sirius' name was cleared during the summer. Happy holidays, coffeeincosmos! I hope you enjoy this fluffy little thing.
> 
> Originally posted [here](https://small-gifts.dreamwidth.org/234564.html), at small_gifts.

"Your collar looks fine." 

Sirius glanced at Remus through the mirror. "Just fine?"

"I could tell you it's perfect, but that would be a lie." Remus tried to suppress his anxiety about the evening. They hadn't done anything public as a couple, and going to the Yule Ball together was...well, there was no knowing how it'd turn out. Sirius had only had his charges dropped this summer, and had kept a low profile since then. The Wizarding world at large was mercurial; they might've forgotten already, or they might not.

Anyway. Sirius looked _perfect_ , which was a special talent of his; he had always had an uncanny ability to roll out of bed and look put together, even if all he was wearing was a pair of boxers and a single sock.

Of course a big part of that was in the eye of the beholder, and when the beholder was just as smitten as he'd been twenty years ago...it didn't matter one whit what Sirius was actually wearing or that he was sporting a few strands of grey: he always looked perfect.

"Tell me a lie," Sirius said, and fixed his collar with a spell.

"Two lies and a truth," Remus said and came up to stand behind him. "Harry knows exactly who his date is. I'm not wearing underwear under these robes. There'll be a Muggle band."

Sirius considered the options. "You're not wearing underwear."

"Correct." Remus smirked. "I was holding out for a Muggle band, but Dumbledore would not be swayed."

"Alas." Sirius grinned back. He turned and offered Remus his arm. "Shall we go?"

~*~

It was amazing what six months and a Death Tournament had done for Sirius' reputation. It appeared that nobody could be bothered to remember he'd once been a wanted criminal, so nobody batted an eyelash when he showed up at Remus' side—almost nobody, that was; a certain greasy-haired asswaffle had sneered as they'd walked past, but that was to be expected. Some people were just beyond all hope and salvation.

Some other people were just as stubbornly fixated on old grudges.

"Don't," Remus said, mildly, and low enough that only Sirius heard.

"I'm not," Sirius protested. "I'm not doing anything at all."

"Hmm," said Remus, and steered them towards their seats. 

Sirius, bless him, knew exactly how to interpret that hmm, so he followed Remus obediently, and sat, and had a drink. He'd likely seize his opportunity later, but Remus decided to ignore that. 

"Where's Harry?"

"Questioning his life choices, I'll imagine," Remus said. "Ah, there he is."

The champions entered the hall with McGonagall, walking straight up to the large round judges table. Sirius was sitting on his hands, likely suppressing his desire to wave and call out to Harry. Good. The poor boy was probably having a hard enough time already without his godfather embarrassing him in front of everyone. 

Not to mention, they hadn't actually _told_ Harry. As far as Remus knew, Harry was blissfully unaware that Sirius had a habit of parking his broom outside Remus' quarters in the castle, so to speak, or that Remus was just as likely to spend his nights at Sirius' new cottage in Hogsmeade.

"What if I shout _quietly_ ," Sirius mused aloud.

"Absolutely not," Remus told him. He watched Harry, who had a constipated look on his face like he'd rather be anywhere else than right there, at the centre of everybody's attention. "Do you think we should tell him?"

Sirius did not reply, for he was socialising already; he was talking to the person sitting on his other side, another teacher—Sprout—and was making pleasant small talk.

Remus joined in. Sirius had learned that Sprout had divorced her husband only the previous day in order to attend the Yule Ball with Hooch, whom Remus knew Sirius would recognise from their own Hogwarts days.

"Delighted!" Sirius said, shaking her hand profusely. "Congratulations to the two of you on being recently queer and all, most excellent. I've had a hiatus myself, terrible business, that, but all's well that ends well, I should say—Remus, what is it?"

"Not recently queer," Remus pointed out, giving him an indulgent smile. Attitudes had changed a lot during the years Sirius had been in Azkaban, and he loved how much delight and pride Sirius took in being able to belong to the community.

Hooch raised her glass to Remus, and Pomona smiled into her own.

"Oh! Well, what does it matter? I will congratulate anyone I like." Sirius raised his glass. "Cheers to everyone at this table of the queerly persuasion."

That was just the four of them, it turned out. These tables seated a dozen, and none of their other table companions were much inclined to toast with Sirius. Remus couldn't quite discern why, though given their wary looks they had longer memories than the students did. 

And the evening had started off so lovely. Remus shuddered to think what would happen if _he_ was found out; it was bad enough that he was socialising with a not-actually-a-murderer, worse that he was _dating_ him, being a werewolf would surely bring on the pitchfork wielding hordes.

"It's the hair, isn't it? I'm much better looking in real life than on those blasted old wanted posters. They got my nose all wrong. And my teeth! Though to be fair, Azkaban doesn't have great dental care." Sirius flashed them a grin.

Remus smiled politely. 

Nobody said anything, and Remus resigned himself to bland dinner companions and awkward conversations. Aside from the ladies sitting to their right, of course. 

Dinner passed pleasantly, however, between the four of them, and if displeased noises came from the other guests at the table, then Sirius appeared to valiantly resist the temptation to transfigure their desserts into tadpoles.

Remus had no such compunctions, and surreptitiously transfigured both the tableware into jelly and the desserts atop it into porcelain. 

"I am in love," Sirius whispered into his ear. "Just stating that for the record." 

"Of course," said Remus, and swapped his plate of half-eaten chocolate pudding for the remains of Sirius' lemon fromage. 

Around the table, the other guests were having problems digesting their porcelain desserts. Hooch and Sprout, being exempted from Remus' little trick, did a good job of pretending nothing was amiss: "Goodness me, I didn't realise hard candy desserts were on the menu! That does look incredibly tasty, dear—I'm quite happy with my strawberry tart, thank you—"

Sirius gobbled down Remus' chocolate pudding, and Remus resolved to take him for a walk in the rose garden that'd been constructed outside for the occasion. Perhaps they'd find a nice bush to admire. Up close, of course. Sirius seemed to be of a similar mind.

"Dance first," Remus said in low tones, folding his napkin. 

This turned Sirius' attention to the dance floor. "I thought we taught Harry better than that," he whispered to Remus.

Remus was trying not to let his horror and amusement show on his face. He took a moment to suppress his laughter. "Let's put him out of his misery?"

"Why, my sweet, I never thought you'd ask." Sirius stood up and offered Remus his hand. "May I have the first dance?"

"And the last." Remus took Sirius' hand, and then—instead of following Sirius' lead—twirled them onto the dance floor with a flourish, at the end of which he dipped Sirius briefly, before reeling him back in. 

Sirius grinned. They were the least coordinated pair of dancers Remus knew (in hindsight, they probably hadn't been the best teachers for the job where Harry was concerned—whoops), but they'd spent many an evening dancing on the living room floor with an old record playing in the background (more often than not playing ABBA records), and had turned dancing into a _game_.

They took turns taking the lead in a silent back and forth contest for it, slipping, sliding, whirling, folding, creating their own rhythm. They narrowly missed other couples and purposefully bumped into Snape, who was taking McGonagall for a courteous spin. 

If Sirius took the opportunity to send a non-verbal itching spell his way, Remus did not comment on it.

"Drink?" Remus asked, when the third dance ended.

"Delighted," Sirius replied. He had a right to be, he was currently in the lead with 536 points to Remus' 532.

They discovered that Harry had not continued dancing after the first dance; rather, he and Ron seemed to be both ignoring their dates and staring at other people, while scowling. 

_Specific_ other people, that was. 

"Is that my _dearly beloved_ cousin my godson is glaring at?" Sirius sipped his punch. "I must say, if he's trying to murder him with the power of thought, he needs some more practice. It's not going well for him."

"Are you volunteering to tutor?" Remus was standing close enough for their shoulders to touch. 

"Heavens, no. This is _your_ area of expertise." Sirius smirked behind his glass. "However, I might just purchase your services in the area."

Remus looked at him over the rim of his own glass, letting his amusement show. "Nepotism, Mr Black?"

"In this relationship? Of course." Sirius leaned in closer. "What will it be, Professor Lupin?"

There were titters around them. Remus couldn't detect what was being said, but he could feel the nervous energy, and by the looks of it, so did Sirius. Maybe it was time to disappear from public view for a bit, and let the students have their fun in peace.

"Roses," Remus said, and gulped down the remains of his punch.

Sirius emptied his glass as well. 

The grounds and the recently constructed rose garden were not yet overrun by ambitious teenagers. Remus wove a heating charm around them to stave off the chill, and with Sirius hanging off his arm took them on a languorous stroll.

It was a lovely night out, and quiet, bar the occasional giggles and scrambles from a bush here and there; it appeared some of the teenagers had gotten an early start on the amorous activities. Remus let them be. 

Sirius discovered a love seat at the end of a trail. They sat. "How are you doing?"

"Me?" Remus asked, surprised.

"Don't think I don't know you've been stressing about the Ball for the past few weeks." Sirius clasped their hands together. "When you've not been stressing about Harry being in a fucking Death Tournament, or trying to keep _me_ from stressing about Harry being in a fucking Death Tournament…"

Remus exhaled. This wasn't ground he wanted to tread right now. "Tell me a lie."

Sirius remained silent, his hand warm on Remus'. "Two lies and a truth," he said, after a while. "Hagrid sold my bike. Snape is an upstanding citizen. I love you."

"You love me," Remus said, suddenly feeling hoarse.

"Yes." Sirius turned to look at Remus. "And you have been stressing."

"Yes. I have. But it's insignificant in the grand scheme of things—"

"It's not the seventies anymore, it's 1993—'94? No, '93—anyway, it's a new era, is my point, and it's _fine_." 

It was dark, but Remus could still see the sparkle in Sirius' eyes. "We should tell him," Remus said. "Tomorrow?"

Sirius kissed him. It wasn't unexpected as such, but Remus was surprised enough that he didn't immediately respond. In the past there'd been a lot of sneaking about, and in the past six months Remus had been slowly warming up to the idea that they didn't _have_ to sneak about. He kissed Sirius back, finally letting go of that last little ball of anxiety.

"Oh! Uh, sorry— _oh!_ Hi."

This was Harry. Remus blinked at him, aware that not only had the boy caught him _in flagrante delicto_ , but that he'd been caught with _Sirius_. "Hello, Harry," he said. "Are you enjoying the festivities so far?"

Sirius made a noise like a barely suppressed snicker. 

Harry stared at the two of them, wide eyed, then his eyes flickered to the side. Remus followed his line of sight and saw that Harry had noticed Draco Malfoy, whose white-blond hair was like a beacon in the dark, lingering by a rose bush a short distance away. The boy looked like he was trying not to be noticed, half-hiding behind the bush and obviously following Harry. When Harry looked back at Remus and Sirius, a slight blush had appeared on his cheeks. 

"Yeah it's great," Harry said. "I'll, uh, see you guys later." He scrambled off, presumably back the way he'd come.

As soon as Harry was out of earshot, Sirius let out a great guffaw of laughter. "That's him told, I reckon!"

Remus smoothed down the front of his robes, inhaling slowly. "Yes, I reckon." 

Sirius grabbed Remus' hands to still them. "Let's continue what we started? I haven't kissed you enough for the day, and with you looking all handsome and flustered like that—"

"Oh, do shut up." Remus didn't wait for Sirius to obey his command and instead shut him up with a kiss, and then another, and then another.

_fin._


End file.
